Trevor Baylis

A good idea turns every cog in your mind, making you scared of bed in case the whole machine grinds to a halt.

As they say, art is pleasure, invention is treasure, and this nation has got to recognise that. If they can spend a fortune on dead sheep and formaldehyde, then it can spend a bit more of that money on inventors.

But there is only one person I blame for getting shafted, and that’s myself. I went into the deal which I thought would secure the future of Orange Aids with culpable impetuosity. I had been used to doing business on a handshake and my word of honour, and I made the error of actually believing what the men in the pin-striped suits told me.

I’d work eighteen-hour stretches and fall asleep in my clothes. Then I’d wake up in the middle of the night, brew a pot of tea, and start work again. I was tired, but work had become pure enjoyment.

The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress. As long as you've got slightly more perception that the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something.